Sweet Potato Thanksgiving Casserole

{So the cartoon has nothing to do with recipes, but in Googling for free images to use on this post, I came across it and could.not.stop laughing.}

Anyway…. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so I figured this was the ideal topic for my weekly recipe exchange. I’ve always loved to celebrate Thanksgiving, even as a little girl. I remember the thrill of getting to set the dining room table with the good china. Even when we lived in Israel, we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, although often we bumped it back a day and had Thanksgiving Shabbat diner!

One of my favorite recipes for Thanksgiving is this sweet potato dish. Emphasis on sweet. There is nothing fancy or sophisticated about this one, consider yourself warned. It’s straight up comfort food — especially when shoveled in with a healthy (unhealthy?) serving of pareve mashed potatoes and sage-infused stuffing.

Sweet Potato Casserole? Pie? Heaven?(Sorry there’s no picture this time. I thought about making up a casserole just for the sake of this post, but I’m just not that dedicated to my blogging craft!)

Ingredients

5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and boiled

2 T sugar – white or brown

1 stick (yes, I said STICK) of margarine

1 t vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup of parve soy or rice milk

Crumb Topping

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup margarine (yes, more margarine – I told you this wasn’t sophisticated)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat together first 6 ingredients and pour in a 9×13 glass baking dish.

Melt 1/3 cup margarine in glass bowl in the microwave. Blend it together with remaining crumb topping ingredients. With fingers, sprinkle over sweet potato.

Bake for 25 minutes or until topping is bubbling and browned.

Yu-hum!

I can’t wait to read all of your favorite Turkey Day recipes. Are you a sweet potato family? Or do you like mashed potatoes? And if you go for mashed, what’s your trick to making them creamy and parve? Do you like pumpkin pie or pecan? White meat or dark? Okay, okay enough questions.

Please just dish up your best Thanksgiving dishes in the comments section! An overstuffed blogger thanks you!

And don’t forget: At the end of November, I will be awarding one lucky recipe sharer with a $10 gift card to Target. Paid for out of my own shallow pockets. So, share a recipe and get your name entered into the gift card hat.

Comments

Comments

Hmm, I haven’t cooked for Thanksgiving in a while, and my family is not super traditional with the foods. Although, the one year we went to Chinese for Thanksgiving with my husband’s side felt too wrong..
I do love pecan pie…but just use the recipe in whatever cookbook i have around, they all seem to work well, sometimes i add some chocolate in.
For mashed potatoes I use margarine, and tons of sauteed onions mixed in.
Here’s something I often do for Succos, but I think would work well for Thanksgiving, as an appetizer or side-

Stuffed acorn squash:
Acorn squash (small ones are best, then you can do one for every two people)
Packaged wild rice mix (I know, not frugal but they are not so very expensive either)
Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds, and roast on a baking pan at 350till soft, but still holding their shape.
Cook the wild rice mix according to package directions.
When the squash has cooled a little, smush the flesh that is left in the halves down to the bottom, and fill with wild rice.
Serve each person a half.

For Sweet, I make also a very sweet casserole. I boil about 4 sweet potatos (with skin on) with 4 apples (with skin on, but cored). When everything is soft I take off the peels, and put them in a greased pan (10×10) in layers (sweet potatoes, apples, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, repeat, then on top dice up about a 1/2 cube of margarine and spread around, a little more brown sugar then top with either marshmallows or marshmallow creme. Bake covered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, then uncover for 10 minutes or until marshmallows are soft.

Potatoes: Boil in salted water, when they are soft, drain most of the water, mash with some margarine until mostly smooth, then use either a wisk or your kitchenaid wisks to whip up the potatoes. Add soy milk as needed to get the consistency you like and add salt and pepper while the potatoes are still warm.

Here is my favorite Thanksgiving recipe. I love it because it is spicy, sweet and completely addictive. (To give proper credit, this was published in The Washington Post, Wednesday, November 15, 2006, Page F8.)

Sweet-and-Sour Pumpkin
(6 servings)

This can be made 1 day ahead minus the mint, which should be added after the pumpkin has been reheated.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is smoking. Add the pumpkin and garlic and cook for 6 to 7 minutes or until the pumpkin is light golden brown. Add the crushed red pepper flakes, vinegar and honey, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 12 to 14 minutes, until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy glaze and the pumpkin is tender. Transfer to a serving dish, add the mint and stir to combine. Serve warm.

I am embarassed to admit it, but I LOVE instant potatoes. Potato flakes, water, margarine, salt and pepper. Then sneak into the kitchen and throw my serving in the microwave so that it gets really, really hot. Ah, true pleasure!

I use coconut cream (not the water or the sweetened stuff for cocktails, the emulsified stuff) to keep it pareve. I cook garlic cloves in the coconut cream until they are soft, and then add the whole thing to the cooked potatoes before I mash it. It comes out really creamy and tasty, but probably a little high in saturated fat.

Wash, pierce, and boil sweet potatoes just until they can be pierced through with a fork — DO NOT cook until mushy. Drain, cool, and peel potatoes.
Melt margarine with brown sugar and water in large saucepan. Cook on medium/medium-low until sugar is fully dissolved and it becomes a thick sauce (approximately 20-30 minutes), stirring occasionally.
While margarine and sugar are cooking, slice potatoes into 1/2 inch-thick rounds. Peel and core the apples, then halve vertically, and slice them into 1/4 inch thick semi-circles.
Place sweet potatoes upright in rows down the length of the pan, not packing them too tightly. Push an apple slice, curved side up in pan, in spaces between potatoes. Sprinkle walnuts over potatoes and apples. Finally, pour the margarine/sugar mixture evenly over the pan’s contents. Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and apples soften (approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour).

I grew up in rural PA, home of the Amish. This is a Pennsylvania classic, and a treat I make a few times a year, including Sukkot, Thanksgiving, and an occasional Shabbat. The beauty of this dessert is that it does not require refrigeration, which after a large holiday meal refrigerator space is always at a premium.